


The Art of Spell Making

by Those_Hero_Kids



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-25 14:32:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19747663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Those_Hero_Kids/pseuds/Those_Hero_Kids
Summary: It's nearing the end of 7th year. Remus and Sirius decide to put what they've studied to use and make some spells. Along the way, they slowly realize that their love may go beyond friendship.





	1. Chapter 1

Sirius knew this period would come. How could it not? James only raved about getting with Lily since third year. Of course, he’d leave his best mates behind to spend time with her when it finally happened. And no matter how extensively Sirius prepared for this in the last few weeks, it wasn’t enough. He felt bored constantly with the little time he got to spend with James. Sure, he had the other two, but they weren’t James. Besides, they—well—Remus was busy most of the time, studying for exams and such. So, he was left with Peter most of the time. And no, it’s not like Peter wasn’t fun, per se, just not as fun as the other two. At least he got to hang out with them all during the night sometimes. But that only lasted for a short amount of time and they definitely couldn’t scheme with Lily. Sure, they weren’t really doing the whole pranking thing all that much anymore as it was, but it was still fun to brainstorm just to do so. Sirius let out a small sigh and propped his chin up with his hand, truly lost in these thoughts now. He wouldn’t be having them if James hadn’t gotten together with Lily. Not that he didn’t want Prongs to be happy, but—

“Pads, the lesson’s over. C’mon,” Remus placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“Oh, right.” Sirius started packing his stuff away. 

“What were you thinking about that distracted you from being dismissed? Usually, you’re counting down to when we’re released,” he asked, handing Sirius his notes. 

“Do you really want to know what’s going on up here?” Sirius chuckled incredulously. 

“No, just trying to make it seem like I care,” Remus shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips. 

Sirius rolled his eyes and shouldered his bag once he was done packing his stuff. He glanced around and realized for the first time that they were the only two left in the classroom. He looked back to Remus. “Thanks for waiting, mate. Shall we head to lunch?” 

“Actually, I was going—”

“To the library to study?” Sirius supplied. 

“Oh, I think I’ve studied enough. But I am going to the library. Wanna come with?” He offered. 

“What could you be doing in the library if not studying?” He cocked an eyebrow. 

“Using the stuff I learned while studying.”

“You actually practice—?”

“Just come with me.”

“Fine.” 

So they strolled down to the library in silence, Sirius glancing at Remus all the while. He really had no right to be that pretty. Merlin, how had he not been snatched by someone yet. He was the definition of pretty—

“What are you thinking of now?” The other boy said suddenly.

“What?”

“You’ve got that look on your face again.” 

“What look?” Sirius turned to him. “If you mean my beauty—”

“The one you get when you’re lost in thought,” He cut him off quickly. “It’s been your primary look recently. What the hell have you been thinking about?” 

“Thought you said you don’t care?” Sirius smirked. 

“I don’t, not all that much,” He shrugged again and looked ahead of them. “Why won’t you share, hm? You always say what’s on your mind, even if it’s something utterly stupid.” 

“Hey! I’ve had some of the best ideas for pranks! Without my ideas, we wouldn’t be where we are today! We’ll go down in Hogwarts history because of my ideas.” Sirius extended his arm, pointing up at the ceiling all dramatically. 

Remus shook his head, “You’re ideas, while sometimes great, have also been disastrous. Need I remind you of The Prank.” 

Sirius huffed. “I thought we were passed that, Re. How many times do I need to apologize?” 

“We are, it’s just good to remind you every once in a while,” Remus was smirking now, that truly arsehole-y smirk that Sirius hated to love. 

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the boy. “You are evil, mate.” 

“I may be evil, but I have manners.” Sirius had yet again failed to take in their surroundings. They were already at the library doors and Remus was holding the door open for him. “Lady’s first.”

“You’re the worst,” Sirius said as he walked in. “Now, can you tell me why you’re practicing when you don’t need to.” 

“I never said I was practicing,” Remus walked passed him and over to one of the tables. He sat down and motioned for Sirius to come over as he unpacked the things from his bag. 

Sirius glanced around and went over and sat across from his friend. “Alright, then what are you doing?” 

“Making spells,” he answered simply. 

“Why didn’t you just say that? Or ask for our help?!”

“Well, you seemed busy, with your thinking and pining and all,” he teased, pulling out some notes that Sirius realized, upon reading, were not from the lesson. He almost forgot to be offended.

“I do not pine!” He said defensively. 

“Shh, we’re in the library,” he said, taking out a different page of notes that were apart of some lesson Sirius barely remembered. “And I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at James. You miss him. Is that what you’ve been thinking about?”

“What? No!” He denied. How did he know him so well? How was he so smart and so damn pretty—nope, wrong time for those thoughts. 

“Mhmm. He’ll be back soon. He’ll start to miss us, realize he’s been neglecting us, be all dramatic about it, and do something grand to apologize, we’ll forgive him and we’ll have him back. Might take a bit, but it’ll happen, like always. Don’t worry, Padfoot.”

“I know, I know, but it’s not like I’ve had you to keep me company. I don’t think I can handle just Peter anymore.” Remus was writing on the not-lesson note page now and Sirius had to stop and admire for a second before continuing. So pretty. “What kind of spell have you been making anyway? Why is it keeping you so busy?”

“First off, spells are hard to make, Sirius. You know that. Second, I said spells, plural.” Remus stopped his writing to look at him. “And I brought you here so you could help.” Remus slid over some more notes—Merlin, that was a lot. “Mind reading over these for me?”

“Bloody hell, Rem.” Sirius took the pages in his hand and skimmed over them. “Why on earth would you make more than one at a time?”

Remus went back to writing. “Because I realized having one spell doing the multiple things I thought of wasn’t really how most spells work. Most spells have one purpose.”

“Well, what do you want them to do?”

“Page one.”

“You numbered them?” 

“Of course.”

Sirius shook his head and found the first page. “They aren’t in order, you know.”

“They’re numbered so I know what’s on each page.”

“And you call me crazy,” Sirius scoffed.

“Just read the damn pages.”

“Fine, fine.” Sirius took some time to read the pages of parchment before him. What Remus was trying to do had some merit, he couldn’t lie. His handwriting was great, too. The info he had on the process of making spells was very informative and extensive. He loved that Remus was trying to help people in smart ways like this. How noble—shit, shit, shit. Reel it in, Sirius. “Okay, so they help you learn things. Are you sure you couldn’t just make it one spell? Or are you making three just to be making three?”

Remus only smirked in response. He took one of the pages from Sirius pile and looked it over before writing more. 

“Remus, I know you’re incredibly smart and capable, but surely this is too much?” Sirius tilted his head, stifling a smile. He was so cute—okay, who turned up the gay?

“‘Too much,’ is our thing, Pads. And besides, the magical system tends to not make sense sometimes. I’m just following that.” 

“Well, you’re not wrong.” 

“I know.” Remus spun the page he had pulled before so it was turned to face Sirius. There were some kind of symbols written on it. “For the ‘Committing to Memory’ spell, which do you think would be best for the wand movement?”

“What’s the incantation?” 

“Edisco.” 

“Disco? Are you kidding?” Sirius started to laugh but tried to stop himself by putting a hand over his mouth.

“No, it’s edisco. It’s Latin for ‘commit to memory.’ It’s on page three.”

Sirius shuffled through the pages until he found three. It contained some Latin words for “learn.” “Wait, disco actually means learn? Seriously?” 

“As serious as you. And no, we’re not using it,” he said sternly.

“But—“

“No. Now, Help me with the movement. I was thinking one of these, but I can’t decide.” He used his quill to point at the symbols. 

“Which is easiest?” Sirius pulled out his wand and tried the three for the spell they were doing. After trying a few times he decided on the third. It came pretty easy and made sense with what the spell was for. “The third.”

“I was going to go for that one.” He circled the third symbol on the page. And quickly checked his watch. “I’m closest to finishing this one. I was going to try it tonight. Want to help?”

“Sure, I’d love to be your guinea pig,” he grinned. “It’s a date,” he joked.

“When should I pick you up then?” He smiled playfully.

“How about midnight? No one would be in the common room then. It’d be just you and me and no one could get hurt.” 

“Sounds good. What will you be wearing?” Well now he was smirking and dear Merlin, Sirius wished this were real and not some stupid joke.

But his recklessness took over and he leaned closer to the other boy aND REMUS DID THE SAME. Shit, they were so close now. “Something special, just for you,” he muttered.

At that Remus laughed and also covered his mouth as Sirius had done. Sirius joined in with a chuckle. “Wow, we are getting so much gayer each time we do this.”

“Yeah, maybe one of these days we’ll kiss or something,” Sirius joked. 

“Probably would have already if you had a cleaner mouth,” Remus leaned back in his chair, looking all smug.

“My mouth is clean! What are you talking about?”

“Pads, you’ve snogged about every girl in the school. That’s a lot of germs I do not need near my mouth.”

“Whatever, you don’t deserve to be snogged by me. Speaking of mouths, why don’t we go down to lunch and work on this later? Everyone misses you and skipping meals isn’t healthy,” Sirius advised. He started grabbing Remus’ notes and putting them in order. 

“Alright. But you don’t have to lie. You could just say you miss me,” he said, starting to pack up his stuff as well.

“Must you always be an arsehole, Moons?” Sirius sighed, helping him as Remus had done in the classroom. 

“Yes, it defines who I am,” he smiled and stood up, pushing in his chair, Sirius doing the same. 

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Let’s just go.”

“Okay,” Remus walked over the door and held it open once again. 

Sirius huffed once more and walked out of the library. Must he always fall for absolute prats?

In the Great Hall, the Gryffindor table was almost empty aside from their friends. Upon seeing them, James beamed. As they approached, he said, “There are the love birds! How was the snog session? Is Sirius getting better at it?”

“He is, but could still use some work,” Remus sat down and started filling up his plate. 

“You both are dead to me,” Sirius glared at them both and sat next to Remus. He nodded at Lily in greeting and quickly grabbed what was left of the food. “Fuck you, mate. All the good stuff is gone.”

“You didn’t have to accept my offer to come. Don’t blame your problems on me.” The boy then proceeded to stuff his face with a bread roll.

“You didn’t have to offer!” Sirius quickly took a piece of food from Remus’ plate.

“Don’t act like you didn’t like it.” Remus didn’t seem to care, he only grabbed another something to make up for it.

Sirius groaned and ate what he grabbed. “I hate you.” 

“You two are like an old married couple. It’s adorable,” Lily smiled at the two of them. 

“We are not together,” he said through gritted teeth.

“That’s not what you said five minutes ago.”

“I swear to Godric—“

“Hey, why don’t you guys eat? Class starts again soon,” Peter chimed in. Sirius hadn’t even noticed him.

He sighed and ate quietly. 

The others were chuckling and chortling together, but also going on without saying anything. How’d he become friends with such arseholes?


	2. Chapter 2

As their classes went on, Remus continued to notice how Sirius wasn’t paying attention to much. While Remus often admired Sirius’ ability to completely shut the world out and still be able to do well in class, this was getting rather annoying. He had been sitting next to Sirius throughout all of their classes, which was James’ job, but he was busy with Lily, so he was left to make sure Sirius knew when to answer a question or leave the class. While they were left to work during their last class, Sirius was completely lost in thought. He didn’t respond to anything Remus did to try and get his attention. So, he resorted to kicking his shin. 

“Ow!” He exclaimed. “What the hell, Re?” He rubbed his shin, a look of anger and confusion written all over his face.

“Do you mind paying attention to this last lesson? Then you can go off in La La Land all you want. Just for this one class, please?” Remus practically begged. 

“Sorry, there’s just a lot on my mind,” he muttered. He sat up straight and seemed to be analyzing the situation. “What spell are we practicing?”

“The Gemino Curse,” Remus answered. 

“The useless copies one?” Sirius pulled out his wand. “Can I see what you wrote down for that one? I didn’t write anything whenever we had this lesson.” 

“When do you ever take notes?” He said indignantly.

“I took some in first year, I think. Second year, too, maybe. Stopped some time around there.”

“You are unbelievable. How can you not take notes?” Remus stared at his friend in disbelief. He had known about this, even knew what Sirius was going to say in response, but it was still as surprising as it was in second year. 

“Simple. I don’t need them. My memory is enough.” Sirius tapped his temple with that cocky smile of his gracing his face. He was so handsome it was infuriating. 

Remus shook his head. “Just cast the damn spell.” 

“Okay, okay.” Sirius aimed at the target they were supposed to use, a pillow, and attempted the spell. Remus reached out and touched the pillow, which instantly made two duplicates appear. Perfect as always. That was another thing Remus admired. Sirius didn’t need to try that hard to be great. Sirius grinned in victory. “You try,” he insisted. “I bet you can’t do it as well as I can.”

“I take it back. Go back to not paying attention,” Remus muttered, copying what Sirius had done a few seconds ago. He knew it wouldn’t be as good. It never was. While he admired his perfection, he often envied it.

Sirius tapped the pillow and out sprung... half of a duplicate. Sirius laughed because of course, he would. “We can’t all be winners, I suppose.”

“Hardy har har.” Remus shook his head and tried again, this time his efforts bearing fruit—well, pillows, in this case. “There. I’m done.” He quickly put his notes away and grabbed the ones for the spells. 

“Woah, you’re not practicing extensively? Nor are you studying that hard? Where’s Remus and what did you do with him?” Sirius asked, leaning back in his chair, his all too familiar easy-going vibe switching on. 

“I can’t really focus on studying, right now,” he said, jotting down a few things, working on some kinks he had thought of with one of the spells 

A gasp came from Sirius. “You really aren’t Remus!”

“I can afford not studying that much. This is more important,” he ignored the dramatics.

“What I just witnessed says otherwise. Put those notes away and try again,” Sirius said, taking the parchment from him. 

Remus shot him a glare. “I don’t need practice, Padfoot.” 

“Sure you don’t. It’s not like this might be on the exam or anything and you did mediocre at best just then.” Sirius put the notes in his bag and set Remus’ wand in front of him. “The Remus Lupin I know would strive for perfection. I don’t want to see anything but.” Sirius smiled that rare soft smile of his, the one Remus felt lucky to see. He knew it didn’t happen that often. 

He huffed and grasped his wand. There was no resisting with Sirius and that smile. He concentrated on casting the spell and nothing else, he pushed the thoughts of his spells out of his mind and focused on doing it just right. He tried not to feel pressured by Sirius watching, tried not to push himself to do better because of him. He breathed and said the incantation and did the movement. He sucked in a breath and watched tentatively as Sirius touched the pillow. As we watched, two pillows sprouted from the one he cast the spell on. He exhaled as Sirius clapped and whistled. 

“Well done, Moony! Vanish the mess and try again,” Sirius said as he vanished his own copies. 

Remus did the same. “Weren’t you just saying how practicing is unnecessary?” He raised an eyebrow and raised his wand again. 

“Well, for some people, yes, like me—”

“Forget I asked.” Remus prepared to cast the spell again. It worked and Sirius had him do it again and this repeated. He got it perfect almost every time. They did this until the end of the class. Finally, they were dismissed and Sirius was clapping Remus on the back, looking proud. 

“Perfect as always, Rem. You have earned these back,” Sirius pulled out Remus’ notes and slid them over the table. 

“Thanks, but I’m not perfect, that’s you, mate.” Remus put his belongings back into his bag and stood up. 

“Well, there’s room for another perfect Marauder.” Sirius stood up as well and pushed in his chair, ever the gentleman. “I’m just the more perfect one.” 

“Bloody hell, I almost forgot how insufferable you are.” After pushing in his own chair—fuck Sirius—he walked out of the classroom without waiting for the other boy. 

“You still love me!” He said before catching up with him. “Don’t deny it.” 

“Sod off, for the love of Merlin,” Remus said just as Sirius slung an arm around him.

“Sorry, you’re stuck with me. You shouldn’t have said you weren’t studying. Now, I can bother you as long as I like,” Sirius smirked. 

“I should’ve asked to be sorted into Ravenclaw,” murmured the werewolf irritably. 

At that, Sirius flicked his head. “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that. Now, let’s go do our homework.” 

“By that you mean you’re going to pester me while I do my homework?” 

“Precisely.” 

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. 

The common room after dinner was full of students studying and practicing for N.E.W.Ts and O.W.Ls. Remus and Sirius were sharing a chair since the other seats were taken and Sirius had been all whiny until Remus moved over to make room. They were being quizzed by Peter, who was sitting on the floor. He was asking them Defense questions. Sirius, of course, made it a competition: whoever answered the question first and answered the question correctly got a point. They were currently tied at ten points. Sirius was being as competitive as always and Remus was glad James was with Lily tonight. It would’ve been quite the shit show if he had taken part in it.

“What's the spell to that’s used against bog—” 

“Riddikulus!” Remus got the word out as fast as he could. 

“Sod off!” Sirius exclaimed. “I was about to say that!” 

“Moony said it first, Padfoot. Point, Remus.” Peter marked a tally on a small chalkboard. 

Remus stuck his tongue out at the boy next to him. It was childish but so satisfying seeing his horrified/angry reaction. 

“That was a lucky guess!” 

“It wasn’t. See, this is why I study,” He tried to stop the smirk spreading on his face, but failed. 

“I study!” 

“With my notes!”

“Next question!” Peter interrupted. “What helps most after a demen—”

“Chocolate!” The two of them shouted in unison. 

And the evening went on like that; both of them shouting answers to questions and never staying ahead for long. Peter eventually got tired and went up to the dorm. In the end, they remained tied. While Sirius was disappointed, Remus’ thoughts were instantly pulled to the spells. He finally had time to work on Edisco and test it out. 

“Let’s work on the spells, now. Not many people are in here, now.” Remus stood up and—Sirius grabbed his bag for him. He took out the notes and set the bag back down then handed Remus the notes. “Uh, thanks. Get your wand out. Where are the questions we got wrong?” 

“I think it’s this one.” He held up a piece of parchment with questions written on it. 

“Okay, we’ll use this to test it. Ready, guinea pig?” He handed Sirius the page with the incantation and movement on it. 

“As I’ll ever be.” There’s that soft smile again. 

Remus had to do his absolute best—no, no, no. He wasn’t going to push himself like earlier in class just because Sirius was smiling his favorite smile. No, he didn’t have to be as perfect as Sirius thought he was. He was great as is. He did not need to be perfect for someone else. He took a breath. “Alright, so you point your wand at the fact you’re trying to learn or say it then do the spell.”

“Sounds simple enough.” He set down the page after studying the wand movement and pointed his wand at the questions page. He stayed like that for a second before saying, “Uh, which should I do? Are there questions it won’t work with?” 

“It won’t work with anything that isn’t a proven fact,” he clarified. 

“So what if I tried it with a fact I didn’t know wasn’t true? It wouldn’t work?”

He shook his head. “No, no it would.” 

The other Gryffindor chuckled. “You inadvertently made a fact-checker spell, mate.” 

Remus’ eyes widened a bit. “Guess I have.” He smiled and looked over the questions. “Which are you doing?” 

“When the Unforgivables were mad unforgivable.” 

“You don’t know when?” 

“Until tonight, I had forgotten the answer.” 

“Alright. Tell me what year it was.”

“Uh—” 

Remus covered up the answer on the page so he wouldn’t look. 

“1720?” He guessed. 

“1717,” he corrected. 

Sirius nodded before raising his wand again. “Edisco,” he muttered, waving his wand in the way they had chosen. Suddenly, there was a light emitting from his wand and Sirius’ head was on fire. 

Remus was tempted to laugh but quickly cast Aguamenti on Sirius. A soon as the fire came, it was gone. Sirius looked incredibly confused and angry once again. 

“What the bloody hell was that for!?” If they weren’t looking then, the people left in the common room were definitely looking now. 

“Your head was on fire! What was I supposed to do?” 

“Warn me!” 

“This way is more fun.” He quickly did a drying spell on Sirius and the pages. “I wonder what went wrong.” He picked up his notes and went over Edisco. “Was all your concentration on casting the spell and learning the information?”

“That would have been nice to know before I tried the bloody charm!” He said angrily. 

“I thought you read that!” Remus looked at the others in the room to find that they had stopped paying attention to them anymore. He sighed in relief and turned back to Sirius. 

“Yeah, I did, hours ago! It’s not on the page you gave me!”

“Alright, alright. Calm down. Try again, but do what I said this time.”

Sirius huffed and closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them again, he seemed somewhat calm. “So concentrate on learning the information as well as casting?”

“Yes,” Remus assured. 

He nodded once more and attempted the spell again. There was no fire this time. So good so far. 

Remus hesitated for a second before speaking. “When were the Unforgivables deemed Unforgivable?” 

“1717,” He said instantly, a grin forming on his face. 

Remus blinked. “Did it—tell me you’re not fucking with me.” 

“I’m not! I think it worked!” Sirius’ mood was totally different now. He was beaming. Talk about whiplash. 

“We should try again in a bit to be sure. Maybe in an hour? You’d have forgotten it by then, right?” Remus took the questions and skimmed through them, trying to find the ones he had struggled with. 

“Something as small as that? Yeah, wouldn’t stay up there for that long.” 

“Okay, I’ll try it now.” Luckily, he didn’t catch fire when he tried, though he couldn’t remember the fact. He kept trying until he got it, Sirius encouraging him the whole time. 

Once he had it, Sirius came up with the idea of going down to the kitchen while they waited for the hour to pass. They grabbed the cloak from James trunk, being as quiet as they could, as to not wake up Peter, James, and Lily. Sirius snickered at the sight of James and Lily all cuddled up in bed and Remus had to hit him to get him to stop. When they came back down to the common room, it was empty. They threw the cloak over them and set out to the kitchens. The whole way there, Remus had to hunch so the cloak would reach their feet. 

“I miss when we were younger and I actually fit under this,” He muttered. 

Sirius let out a soft chuckle. “Guess we aren’t really kids anymore.” 

“Guess not...How do we all fit under here? Why is it possible?”

“Well, we don’t usually have Peter under here. He’s usually Wormtail, now.”

“Right. At least we’ve only got a few months left of this. We could go anywhere once we’re done here,” he pointed out. 

It was a while before Sirius spoke. They were almost there when he finally replied. “I can’t believe we’re almost done, Moons. It’s hard to imagine life without Hogwarts.” 

He took a second to try and picture it. It was rather hard. “Yeah, it is.” 

“How do you think we’ll turn out?”   
“...Happy, hopefully.” He tried.

“You think so?”

“Yes, I do. We’ll all have someone by our side, we’ll all still be friends, and we’ll have kids who will play together,” He smiled a bit sheepishly. It seemed like a fantasy, what he was saying. He hoped beyond hope that that would happen. 

Sirius seemed to hold back a chortle. “Me? With a long term partner? Unlikely.”

In response, Remus nudged him hard. “Stop saying shit like that, mate. Just because you haven’t dated anyone in a while doesn’t mean that you’ll be single forever. You’re Sirius Black, for fuck’s sake.” He rolled his eyes and threw off the cloak once they were at the fruit portrait. He tickled the pear and held the portrait open for his friend, who hadn’t taken the cloak off. He appeared to be standing there, at least that’s what Remus hoped. “Sirius?” He asked. “You still here?” He wondered if he had said the wrong thing, if he freaked him out too much. He thought that appealing to his ego would result in him feeling better. 

“Oh, sorry.” He took off the cloak and folded it over his arm. “Uh, I zoned out for a second. Thank you,” he added as he walked through the portrait.

“You’re welcome.” Relief washed over him. Crisis averted, he thought then followed him through. He immediately headed for the bread rolls. He grabbed two and threw one towards Sirius, who caught it easily. “Why’d you want to come down here anyway? Sweets?” He cocked an eyebrow. 

Sirius shrugged. “No real reason. This is our default for night-time escapades, isn’t it?” He took a bite out of his bread roll as if it were an apple, causing Remus to scoff. 

“‘Suppose you’re right. I did bring—“

“Gimme,” he demanded before he could finish. He held out his hand and Remus handed him some of his chocolate he had in his pocket. He then leaned against one of the counters. 

“If I had known getting obsessed with chocolate would result in you stealing it from me, I would’ve never done it.” 

“Hey, you just willingly handed it over. That’s not stealing.” He finished his bread roll before moving on to the candy. “And besides, I haven’t stolen from you in a while. I’m not as naughty as I once was, you know.”

“Yes, yes, the whole ‘if James is changing, so am I’ shit. I get it. That’s all I’ve heard from you all year. It’s gotten quite annoying.”

“Why, thank you,” Sirius grinned.

“Mhm,” Remus joined Sirius at the counter and watched the little elves do their job. Funny, how both groups—the elves, and the Marauders—expected the other to be in the kitchen. Neither minded the other’s presence. Not even a few years ago it was always rather awkward. Funny how things change. Dynamics, society, people. “Remember when one of them screamed the first time we ventured down here?” He said, nodding toward the elves. 

“Oh, how could I forget? That’s perhaps the only thing I remember from first year. It was so loud.” He imitated the scream at a sort of whisper-yell. 

“Then James with the manliest wail,” Remus chortled at the memory. “Best moment of first year.”

“Not much has topped it.”

They both stood for a moment, reveling in the memory of their first year. Now, they were nearing the end of their time at Hogwarts. The thought pained the werewolf. Uncertainty welled within him. He hoped the things he had said in the hall would be a reality, would be true at least a little bit. But with the war raging on, his musings seemed unlikely. And even if they won the war and everyone was safe, how would he get a job? How would he have a significant other? Who would accept something like him? 

After a bit, he spoke up. “I’ll miss this place, once we’re gone.”

“I think we all will. We grew up here, after all. It’s going to be hard to let go of it,” Sirius remarked. 

“In a few months, we’ll have so many responsibilities. We won’t be able to cause trouble and all the other stuff we do.”

“Yes, but we’ll be free to do whatever we want. We won’t have to sneak around, have a curfew, listen to rules—“

“We’ll have to listen to the ministry rules—“

“—Doesn’t that sound exciting?”

“Yes, but we both know it won’t all be fun and games. How am I supposed to find a job out there? I doubt anyone would hire me.” His focused his gaze on the floor, not wanting to meet his eyes. 

“Be an Auror then, like James and I!” Sirius hit Remus’ chest playfully. “They’d be a fool to refuse talent like yours.”

“I-I don’t know if I want to be an Auror. I was looking into other things, you know that.” Remus unconsciously rubbed at the spot Sirius had hit. 

“Why not work in the Investigation Department? You’d be like a detective! And we’d be working in the same department. We could get into some shenanigans here and there. It would be great.” Sirius was obviously trying to give him an encouraging smile again. He loved how he’d do that. It always gave him a warm feeling inside. 

“I mean, yeah, it would,” he couldn’t help but smile in return. “If not an Auror, I could definitely do that.” 

“Atta boy!” Sirius patted him on the shoulder. “Has it been an hour yet?”

Remus checked his watch. “We’ve got another twenty minutes. How shall we spend it?” 

“As much as I love talking to you, I’m getting bored. Why don’t we wander around the castle until the time’s up? What’d you say?”

“We know this castle inside and out. And I can’t bear being under the cloak for longer than I have to.” 

“Alright, then what do you suggest?”

Remus shrugged a shoulder. “We could...I dunno, cook something?” 

Sirius perked up. “That’s I could get on board with. What shall we make?”

“Muffins?”

“Chocolate?”

“You’ve read my mind.”

So they quickly got all the things they’d need to make the muffins. Remus knew that Sirius wasn’t much of a cook or a baker, so he was left with most of the hard work while Sirius watched excitedly. He really was like a puppy at times. It was adorable and Remus adored it. What he wouldn’t do to have all that to himself; the encouraging smiles, the excitement, the stupid conversations. He’d gladly give anything he had for Sirius to be his, but (there’s always a but, isn’t there?) why would Sirius want him? What did he have to offer? 

Remus huffed as he set the tray in the oven. He was covered in sugar and many other ingredients and he would’ve cared more if Sirius wasn’t somehow smothered more. “How on earth?” Remus looked at him, an incredulous smile growing on his face as he looked at the mess that was Sirius Black. For not having done much of the work, Sirius was covered in flour. 

“I have no idea, mate.” 

“It’s like you rolled around in it. Bloody hell,” he grabbed a rag but Sirius grabbed his wrists.

“Don’t use a dishrag on my robes, you’ll ruin them! Use your wand, you dolt,” he chastised. 

“Okay, okay. No need to be a baby about it.” Remus pulled out his wand and hesitated. He suppressed a smirk and stepped forward, a sudden confidence coming over him. “You’ve got it flour in your hair, Pads.”

“I do?” Sirius felt his hair and absolute panic took hold of his features. “Get it out!” 

Remus nodded and reached up with one hand, the other going behind his back. He waved his wand and the bag of flour flew into his hand. As his other hand hovered over the top of Sirius' head, he quickly poured the rest of the flour onto his friend’s hair. 

“AH!” He shouted. He started shaking his head vigorously and patting his head to get the flour out.

Remus moved back and put a hand to his mouth, trying and failing to stop his laughter. 

“Fuck you!” Sirius exclaimed. “Get this shit out of my hair!”

Remus only laughed harder. He continued to watch as Sirius frantically tried to get the flour out his hair. Once Remus calmed down a bit he grabbed Sirius’ wrist to stop him. “Stop, stop, you’re getting nowhere.”

“I should kill you for this,” Sirius fumed. “Do you know how much time and effort—“

“Shut it and let me help you.” 

“Why should I trust you!?”

“Because I’m your friend, you prat. Now, stand still and let me help.” 

Begrudgingly, Sirius obliged. He crossed his arms and muttered something about what a friend Remus was. 

It took all he had not to laugh again. He instead raised his wand and with a few waves, there wasn’t a speck of flour on Sirius. “There. You’re welcome.” Remus turned, leaving Sirius to mutter to himself. He checked on the muffins. They seemed like they were almost done. He closed the oven and looked back at Sirius. “Almost done.”

“Hmph,” he replied.

“What? I have to say ‘Sorry?’” 

“It would be nice, yes.”

“Fine. I’m sorry for pouring that flour on your head. Happy?”

“...A bit. I’ll be happier if you let me have both muffins,” Sirius tried, a pleading smile on his face.

“No,” he deadpanned. 

“It was worth a try,” he shrugged. “How long?”

“Five more minutes, maybe?”

“And for the hour?”

Remus checked his watch. “Around the same time.”

Sirius nodded. “Well, what're five minutes less? What was your fact again? Something about Patronuses?”

“The Patronus Charm can be used, not only against Dementors but also Lethifolds,” Remus said automatically. It was as if his mouth was on autopilot, just as it had felt the first few times he tried the spell. He broke out into a grin. “Yours was about the Unforgivables?”

“The three Unforgivable Curses were deemed Unforgivable in 1717.” Within the next few seconds, Sirius was beaming once more. “I told you it worked! We did it!” Sirius rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Remus, almost crushing him in the process. 

Remus hugged him back just as tightly. “We did it!” He repeated. “Yes!”

Sirius moved back a bit, his arms still around him. “That was surprisingly easy.”

“For you, yeah. You haven’t been working on it for a month,” Remus laughed. 

Sirius fully let go, laughing along. “We shouldn’t celebrate too soon. We’ll have to test it every once in a while.”

Remus nodded. “Surely we can have a celebratory muffin, though?” He was smiling so much his cheeks were beginning to hurt. He’s made a few spells before, and every time he always felt so excited, the feeling of accomplishment was always great. 

“Of course.” 

And the two of them enjoyed their muffins, the accomplished feeling welling in them both. 

Later that night, after Sirius and the rest were fast asleep, Remus was awake, his gaze on Sirius bed. He smiled to himself every time he thought of their triumph. That, and the fact that this was their triumph. They had done this together. It was nice, only them working on something. The next two were going to be their successes, as well. 

While those thoughts made him extremely happy, they also made him feel sad. He always felt great whenever it was just Sirius and him. He wasn’t going to lie to himself and say it wasn’t because he was completely smitten with the boy. But he also wasn’t going to lie and say he had a chance with Sirius. And yes, Sirius had come out as gay to them last year after saying he was bisexual in fourth year. (He said he realized he wasn’t all that attracted to girls anymore, something along those lines). But that didn’t mean he was going to date him. They were friends! He’d see it as weird if Remus were to ask him out. He had no chance. 

Yet, he’d still fantasize. He couldn’t help it. When he wasn’t working on school work, Marauder things, or spells, he was most likely thinking of Sirius. It had been this way since...fourth year maybe. He couldn’t remember that well when he first started fancying Sirius, he knew it had been a long time ago or felt that way at least. He was honestly surprised none of his friends had realized yet, aside from Lily; she found out as soon as they had started to become friends. She had told him that he was good at hiding it, but not that good, seeing as she found out.

He wondered what would happen if the others found out he was bisexual. He could guess it wouldn’t be bad since no one suddenly hated Sirius after he came out. He had planned on telling them by the end of the year, and that was coming closer every day. He still didn’t know how to tell them. He kept putting it off. That he couldn’t bring himself to think about. 

He huffed and turned to face away from Sirius’ bed. He’d decide later. He still had some time. For now, he’d sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is twice as long as the second one. That's what happens when I write mostly at night and just let myself go at it. Hope you enjoyed!


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